Court filings suggest Prince's estate is worth £160 million

It is the first time a specific estimate has emerged publicly from court proceedings following Prince's death from an accidental drug overdose in April.

Since he left no known will, the rock superstar's sister and five half-siblings are in line to inherit equal shares of the estate -- after the taxman takes about half of it.

Musician Prince died earlier this year (Ian West/PA)

By comparison, David Bowie's estate was worth about 100 million dollars (£80 million) when he died in January, according to his will.

Shortly after Prince's death, when officials were beginning to place a value on his musical catalogue, unreleased music, the Paisley Park studio complex and other assets, one lawyer for the company overseeing the estate, Bremer Trust, said it could be worth somewhere between 100 million and 300 million dollars.

Lawyers have avoided giving specific figures in public since then, but based on a court filing made public this week, Bremer Trust puts the value of the estate at about 200 million dollars, The Associated Press has calculated.

Prince passed away in April at 57 (Chris O'Meara AP/PA Images)

That figure is based on a memo that mentioned the company's fee as 90,000 dollars per month, which works out at 1.08 million dollars per year.

Considering the Bremer Trust uses a fee schedule based on the value of an estate, AP calculated that the annual fee works out to an estate worth 200 million dollars.

Two estate law experts not connected with the Prince case who reviewed the documents agreed with that conclusion, AP said.

Prince (Yui Mok/PA)

The estates of some other dead rock superstars continue to generate huge sums of money. Forbes magazine's annual list of top-earning dead celebrities for 2016 showed Michael Jackson's estate collected 825 million dollars, Elvis Presley's earned 27 million dollars and Bowie's took in 10.5 million dollars.

Prince's estate took in 25 million dollars and sold more albums than any other dead musician to earn fifth spot on the list.